The Fundamentals of Landscape Lighting Design & Installation

Understanding the definitions used in the landscape lighting industry will be an intricate part of reading a lighting catalog and selecting the proper lamp, beam angle and wattage for your design.  In this Section I'll cover these definitions and how they apply to what we're trying to achieve.

Even though we're working with low voltage lighting systems there are still regulations and codes that need to be adhered to.  In the United States we work under the National Electric Code (NEC). Always check with your local building department or planning commission to be sure you are following the guidelines for where you live.

In this lecture I'll cover some basic rules for designing your low voltage lighting system.  How much wattage can you load on a transformer?  How far can you run a lighting cable?  How do you use voltamps when sizing your transformer?  These are the questions I'll be answering within this lesson.

Open any lighting catalog and you will see the term "foot candles".  This refers to the amount of light being generated by a source (a light bulb, a candle, etc.) and we use this term to define the amount, or intensity, of the light.  One foot-candle equals one lumen.  Lux is the value used when working and designing in metric values.  Let's jump into this lecture and I'll explain all of this more clearly.

Beam angles will have a direct impact on our lighting design.  A beam angle can be a very narrow spotlight or a wide flood light.  While the wattage and lumens may not change, the intensity will, based on the angle of the beam.  Let's take a look...

The bulb (or lamp) is the actual source of our light, the higher the wattage the more light produced.  Primarily we will be working with LED (light emitting diode) bulbs.  These lamps will produce an equal amount of light as a halogen bulb, but at a fraction of the wattage required by the halogen bulb.  This lecture will explain how to select the right bulb for the application.

We've covered a lot of ground in this Section - let's have a quick recap of what we've learned.

Light is how we perceive the world around us, and light has different qualities.  One of the greatest qualities is within the color temperature of light.   The difference between our landscapes during a full, sunny day to a moonlit night alters our perceptions.  This Section will explore the influence of color temperature for us as lighting designers and contractors.

Color temperature is how we describe whether a light source is "cool" or "warm".  These temperatures, in turn, will have an impact on how we view the subjects we illuminate in our landscapes.  In this lecture I'll define color temperature and how we can choose - and use - warm, soft and cool temperatures to our best advantage.

I've talked a lot about color temperature and filters in this section.  This lecture will be a visual demonstration on how temperatures and filters can enhance (or harm) our landscape design.

Every beam of light carries a spectrum of colors within that visible beam, ranging from red to violet.  A high CRI rating means that this beam of light has a rich presence of colors, and this translates to the light source having a greater ability to render that color within our landscapes. 

In this lecture I'll explore how we actually perceive color and why having a lamp with a high CRI is valuable in our designs.

Let's have a quick overview of what this Section has covered.

As when you're starting a landscape design you need to understand the site conditions, design opportunities and the desires of your client.  In this section we'll move from the mechanics of the system to the artistic and design considerations.  A step-by-step process of developing your lighting design.

Regardless of the manufacturer, fixture selections will be comparable across the spectrum.  In this short lecture we'll look at the most common fixtures available.  Different manufacturers will be represented, but I do not specifically endorse one over the other.

Think of a theatrical stage play or music concert - how is light utilized to set a mood?  From "Phantom of the Opera" to "Oklahoma" or a Beyonce concert, lighting will play a major role in setting the theme and moving your eye across the stage.  The same is true in our landscapes, we're creating scenes, movement and interest throughout the garden.  Let's look at how this can be done.

What should we light and what should we not light - and why? This lecture will cover how to make these decisions, what might be a great focal subject and how to take advantage of these opportunities presented to us.  Design opportunity is a broad subject and can begin before ever visiting the site.  Being aware of the aesthetics, functionality and safety reasons for creating a lighting design will help make decisions when you visit the property, talk with your client and conduct a site analysis and assessment.

Walking the property and talking with the client is the beginning of your Site Assessment.  What are the access points?  Where are there stairs that need to be illuminated for aesthetics and safety?  Where will you locate the transformer and how will the cable be run to the fixtures?  Will sleeving need to be installed under walks and driveways? 

Are there trees or structures where downlighting can provide ambient light to your design?

All of these are considerations you will need to take into effect and document on your site plan.

In this lecture we'll do a short walk around a property and conduct a simple site assessment as an example of how this can be completed.

With this lecture we'll wrap up Section four with a brief recap of the subjects covered.

In the last section we covered the aesthetics and practical considerations of lighting design.  This Section will look at taking the information we've gathered and how to put it on paper so the project can be bid and installed.

Transformers today are extremely versatile - offering a wide range of options.  In this lecture I'll cover some of these options and how to size the transformer for your project.

The Daisy-chain method is probably the most common (and best known) method of wiring your lights together.  It is arguably the least efficient.   In this lecture I'll explain why this should NOT be your wiring method of choice.

Low voltage lighting needs balanced voltage to produce even light (lumens) and for longevity of the lamps.  In this lecture we'll look at the HUB method and why, I feel, this is the best method to use when wiring your system.

Now that we've covered some of the pros and cons of transformers and wiring methods, it's time to draw our design.  Having a scaled plan will aid in doing our materials take-off, bidding and installing the system.  In the Resources you'll find two different examples of lighting plan design for you to refer too.  One is the Daisy-chain method of wiring and the other is the Hub method.  With these examples you should have no trouble drawing up a lighting plan for your own needs.

As we begin our lighting design, we need to have an idea of the engineering aspects of our plan.  From a design standpoint we need to be able to calculate our voltage drop from the transformer to our fixtures.  While this is an estimated value we calculate on paper, we'll also be checking the actual voltage in the field when we do the installation.  This lecture will focus on the math to do our calculations for both halogen bulbs and LED bulbs in our designs.  I have created a spreadsheet in Imperial values to use in calculating your voltage drop.  It is available in Resources for this lecture.  It is partially filled in as an example, simply replace the numbers with your own project values.

Calculating voltage drop for those of you outside of the United States uses a slightly different formula.  In the Resources for this section, you will be able to download a PDF handout showing how to do the calculations by hand, and an Excel Spreadsheet where you can fill in the appropriate values and have the information generated automatically.  We'll walk through the procedure using both the PDF and the spreadsheet in this lecture.

In this lecture I'll give a brief recap of what I've covered in this Section.

Once we've designed the system on paper and discussed it with our client it's time to install the system.  This section will cover the some of the mechanics of laying out our design.  In this Section we'll go into the field and discuss installing the transformer, checking our voltage and selecting a wiring method for optimum effect, ease and longevity of our lights.

When purchasing or specifying a transformer be aware that some will be suitable for mounting out of doors while others will need to be inside, sheltered from the weather.  In this lecture I'm using a transformer that needs protection, but the process is the same.  Also, when using a multi-tap transformer, you'll want to check the voltage at your hub or fixture to be certain of which tap to wire your cable run to, accounting for voltage drop between the transformer and the fixture or hub. 

I am a strong proponent of using the HUB method of wiring as much as is possible or feasible.  In this lecture we'll look at a HUB wiring installation and we'll check the actual voltage at the HUB from the transformer.  This will give us the information needed to decide on which voltage tap to select so that we maintain 12 volts at the HUB for our fixtures.

Moisture and loose wires will ruin a lighting installation and require troubleshooting to find the problem.

In this lecture I'll discuss and demonstrate why I prefer using grease caps and copper crimp sleeves when designing or installing a lighting project.

In the last lecture I discussed why I prefer grease caps to silicone filled wire nuts. Now we'll go out to a neighboring property where wire nuts where used and see why I don't really care for them when installing my systems.

This wraps up Section 6. Every installation will have its own unique issues, but by checking your voltage to determine which tap to use and selecting solid, waterproof connectors your designs and installations will operate properly and last for many years.

We've covered a lot of ground throughout this course.  This lecture is a quick review of the main points I've presented in earlier lessons.  Feel free to jump back to anything you feel you need to review, but I'm going to try to touch on what I feel are the major topics of this course.

Thank you so much for being a part of The Fundamentals of Landscape Lighting Design and Installation.  I really hope this has been useful and informative, but please be in touch with any suggestions that can help to make this course even better!  Be sure to take a look at the last lecture of the Course - Additional Resources for my recommendation of a couple of books I believe will be of great help if you want to learn more about the art of landscape lighting and building a business.

Below are the titles of two books I highly recommend if you are serious about learning the full art of landscape lighting and building a business.  The Art of Landscape Lighting by Janet Lennox Moyer will guide you through more detail and engineering than I could cover in this course.

The Landscape Lighting Guide by Paul Gosselin will give you the confidence to start and build your own lighting design and installation business.  Both are available on Amazon.com.

The Art of Landscape Lighting: A Designer's Companion - by Janet Lennox Moyer

The Landscape Lighting Guide: A complete guide to building a low voltage LED landscape lighting business - by Paul R Gosselin Sr